Valve Announces Steam Trading Cards

Valve has just announced a brand new Steam feature which enables participants to pick up virtual cards through the simple act of playing games on where else but Steam. The beta would kick off today, where up to 1,000 invitations were sent out already. If you want to be part of this potential revolution in gaming, then you will need to hook up with the Steam Trading Card Group in the Steam Community, as that is the place where invitations will be sent out in the order of those who have joined.

Just before we proceed, surely the question as to the exact nature of Steam Trading Cards need to be answered. In any case, individual games will have a set of cards, where half of each set can be unlocked as long as you play the game, while the other half is earned via what Valve has dubbed “collecting prowess”, and if you were to read between the lines, trading with your friends would play a huge role in this matter. Whenever you have a full set of cards, just exchange them for a game badge which will help you earn stuff such as emoticons, profile backgrounds, and coupons. Collect the same set of cards over again to “level up” – spending real world time to obtain virtual achievements.